Boehner Blasts Obama’s ‘Enemies’ Line

House Minority Leader John Boehner, the Ohio Republican poised to become House speaker if his party regains the majority on Tuesday, plans to blast President Barack Obama at an election rally later today for describing his political opponents as “enemies” during an interview with Univision radio.

“Mr. President, there’s a word for people who have the audacity to speak up in defense of freedom, the Constitution and the values of limited government that made our country great,” Mr. Boehner is set to tell an audience in Cincinnati tonight. “We don’t call them ‘enemies.’ We call them patriots.”

During an interview last Monday on the Spanish-language radio station, Mr. Obama said, “If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies, and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us’ — if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election — then I think it’s going to be harder. And that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2nd.”

Election Night Updates

The president’s remarks have become fodder for conservative blogs and radio. Mr. Boehner plans to fan those flames this evening in a speech at Cincinnati’s Lunken Airport where he is appearing with former congressmen Rob Portman, the Republican vying to be the state’s next senator, and John Kasich, who’s running to unseat the state’s Democratic governor, Ted Strickland.

“We have a president in the White House who referred to Americans who disagree with him as ‘our enemies,’” Mr. Boehner’s speech says. “Think about that. He actually used that word. When Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush used the word ‘enemy,’ they reserved it for global terrorists and foreign dictators – enemies of the United States.”

“Sadly, we have [a] president who used the word ‘enemy’ for fellow Americans…fellow citizens,” the speech continues. “He uses it for people who disagree with his agenda for bigger government…people speaking out for a smaller, more accountable government.”

Mr. Boehner previewed that line in a weekend campaign stop in Lisbon, Ohio, for Bill Johnson, the GOP candidate who is challenging Rep. Charlie Wilson. “You know, when President Bush, President Reagan, President Clinton and George W. Bush used the word enemies, they were referring to global terrorism or dictators around the world who hated freedom and hated America,” he said, according to the Salem (Ohio) News.

“Mr. President, I’ve got a word for those people who oppose your policies, those people who love our country and Constitution, who love freedom and the principles America was founded on. You know what I call them? Not enemies. They’re patriots,” Mr. Boehner said.

One caveat: Mr. Boehner has a tendency to stray from his prepared text, so the remarks might not be uttered as they were written here.

The Republican leader made his closing argument in a radio address over the weekend and an op-ed in today’s USA Today, reiterating his calls for less regulation, deep cuts in federal spending and “changing the way Washington does business.”

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